Rose Byrne stars in new rom-com I Give it a Year. Picture: Chris Pavlich Source: National Features

NOW that she has wrapped a long run on US TV drama Damages, Aussie beauty Rose Byrne is free to pursue her new Hollywood niche: comedies.

After a surprising turn as a saucy pop star opposite Russell Brand in Get Him to the Greek and the runaway success of Bridesmaids, Byrne is now leading a romantic comedy for the first time - the twisted British flick I Give it a Year.

And coming soon is a role in the Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson buddy comedy The Internship (out in June).

But Byrne's great career strength right now also exposes the 33-year-old to one of her greatest weaknesses - Byrne is an easy comedy target.

"It's dreadful," she admits, shaking her head. "I'm very much a victim of 'breaking', as they say in America. Melissa McCarthy, once she knew she could make me laugh, she'd direct all her comedy to me and I'd just come apart."

"Rose is so sweet and she's really funny, but she always looks like a porcelain dolly. And she breaks really easy," says McCarthy.

"Once we knew, it became like a sporting event. It was not nice! If I would stare at Rose and just keep saying her name, she would lose her mind every time. So in every scene I would finish the sentence with her name and I would look at her and she would ... (mimes an uncontrollably wobbling chin).

"In the airplane scene - which makes me laugh so hard when I watch it - you see Rose like this (McCarthy holds a magazine in front of her face) and you see her magazine shaking, 'cos she's just laughing so hard. Which just shows what a great girl she is."

If Byrne thought the torment ended with Bridesmaids, she knew she was wrong the moment she stepped on the London set of I Give it a Year.

There waiting for her was Stephen Merchant - the regular Ricky Gervais offsider given a long leash to find the funny by director Dan Mazer.

"Steve knew he could make me laugh, so I was laughing the whole time," Byrne says.

But it was Mazer and co-star (and fellow Aussie) Simon Baker who introduced Byrne to a whole new level of comedic torture. In a word: doves.

In I Give it a Year, Byrne plays Nat, a PR guru who rushes into marriage with a writer, Josh (Rafe Spall). It quickly becomes apparent that there may be better matches out there for Nat and Josh - in Nat's case, it's her studly new American client, Guy (Baker).

"I was unfortunately quite hijacked by their presence and it became a bizarre scene," recalls Byrne. "The crew were besides themselves on that day, they were on the floor laughing. I was so petrified."

Of course, Byrne's fear only fuelled the amusement of her colleagues, as Baker can attest.

"It was full on. It was a mess. There was dove s--- flying everywhere and Rose was freaking out about the birds, I mean, petrified," Baker says.

"There were a couple of takes where she started laughing and crying at the same time because she just couldn't handle it, she was so freaked out.

"I'm trying to play it completely straight and at one point I had two doves literally walking around on my scalp and Rose was flipping out.

"And this is the eighth take in a row ruined because Rose is under the table whimpering and screaming ... " he laughs.

"In her close-ups I was trying to hold her hands, just to keep her calm. 'It's OK, Rosie, it's all right'."

For now, Byrne's only defence against too-funny co-stars is a steely focus: "The more funny they get, the more serious I have to get about not laughing."

In future, she could try switching from breaker to breakee. But that kind of comedy, says Byrne, "is a different skill altogether. Will Ferrell or Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey ... that sort of funniness is a different thing. I don't think I'm at that level yet. Comedy - strangely, it's a serious business. So I'm still finding my confidence with that".

Byrne calls the end of her five-year run on legal drama Damages - co-starring Glenn Close - "bittersweet". She'll miss the complex role, Close and the great writing, but at the same time seems buzzed about future possibilities.

Shooting The Turning - a collection of shorts based on Tim Winton stories - in WA last year has piqued her interest in producing.

"I'd like to get projects together, source material," she says. "That was a great experience, to bring something to life that I had a real love for."

And firsts - like playing the lead in a rom-com - are offering up fresh challenges. She loved that I Give it a Year allowed her to do what she calls "the honours" - you know, romance staples like the last-minute dash to the airport.

But if you were to barge into Byrne's New York living room, you'd more likely find her curled up on the couch watching cult TV series Girls than Four Weddings and a Funeral.

While movie work inevitably draws her to Los Angeles - where she is now shooting the sequel to Insidious with Aussie horror impresarios James Wan and Leigh Whannell - Sydneysider Byrne will continue to call New York home for now.

"There's nothing like it in the world, it's such an exceptional place and I still thrive on the energy and adrenalin of it. I'm sure I'll tire of it eventually ... but I've always been more of a town mouse than a country mouse. I've got a nice community of people there now."

That community may include Boardwalk Empire actor Bobby Cannavale. The pair were spotted together in December. According to Byrne - who split with Brendan Cowell in 2010 - it's not surprising she ends up in relationships with other actors: they get it.

"I tend to be with people who are artists as well, so they're empathetic about it," she says. "I'm lucky."

Does Byrne believe in a rom-com kind of love? She starts, stumbles and starts again.

"What I do believe is that how relationships start is no reflection on how it's gonna go. And that's cool, that's OK. By that token, you should just really be in the moment."

SEE I Give it a Year, opens February 28.

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